Popular North American Magical Realism Books
Find magical realism books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (20)
1.
Augustown : A Novel by Kei Miller EN
Country: North America / 
Jamaica
Jamaica
Description:
PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD FINALIST ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Slate • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Ma Taffy may be blind but she sees everything. So when her great-nephew Kaia comes home from school in tears, what she senses sends a deep fear running through her. A teacher has cut off Kaia’s dreadlocks—a violation of the family’s Rastafari beliefs—and this single impulsive action will have ramifications that stretch throughout the entire community. Kaia’s story brings back memories from Ma Taffy’s youth, including the legend of the flying preacherman and hi... continue
2.
Aura by Carlos Fuentes ES
Country: North America / 
Mexico
Mexico
Description:
"Lees ese anuncio: una oferta de esa naturaleza no se hace todos los días. Lees y relees el aviso. Parece dirigido a ti, a nadie más": asícomienza Aura, novela hechizante, donde lo verdadero es lo imposible, donde el amor a la vez sacrifica y devuelve la vida, y la inmortalidad tiene un precio que algunos están dispuestos a pagar.Pocos textos en la literatura mexicana de imaginación tienen la belleza y la expresividad de este relato en que los procedimientos de la ficción están llevados a sus últimas consecuencias. Las imágenes del sueño alteran la realidad o la realidad se ve contaminada por ... continue
3.
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya EN
Country: North America / 
United States of America
United States of America
Description:
Ultima, a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic, comes to Antonio Marez's New Mexico family when he is six years old, and she helps him discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past.
4.
Como agua para chocolate / Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel ES
Country: North America / Mexico
Mexico
Description:
Mexico zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Als jüngste von drei Töchtern darf Tita nicht heiraten, sondern muss bis zu deren Tod ihre Mutter versorgen. Pedro, ihre grosse Liebe, heiratet die ältere Schwester, um wenigstens in ihrer Nähe zu bleiben. Ihren Gefühlen kann sie allein in der Küche Ausdruck geben: die Gäste erleben beim Essen nach, was Tita beim Kochen empfunden hat - mit zum Teil grotesken Folgen.
5.
Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk EN
Country: North America / 
Canada
Canada
Description:
Winner of the Nebula Award! Finalist for the Hugo Award! Finalist for the World Fantasy Award! A New York Times Best Romance of 2022! C. L. Polk turns their considerable powers to a fantastical noir with Even Though I Knew the End. “Eerie, sharp and fiercely bittersweet.” —The New York Times A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above. An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother's life is offered one ... continue
6.
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
"Sisters Matilde, Pastora, Camila, and Flor thought they knew each other well, until Flor-inspired by a documentary her daughter Ona made her watch-decides she wants a living wake, a party to bring her family and community together and celebrate the long life she's led, while she's still around to enjoy it. She's not ill, as far as anybody knows, but Flor does have a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. Has she foreseen her own death, or someone else's, or does she have other motives? She refuses to say. But Flor isn't the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for de... continue
7.
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of City of Bones with a modern-day twist on a classic legend and a lot of Southern Black Girl Magic. After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a m... continue
8.
Nightbitch : A Novel by Rachel Yoder EN
Country: North America / United States of America
United States of America
Description:
In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog. • "A must-read for anyone who can’t get enough of the ever-blurring line between the psychological and supernatural that Yellowjackets exemplifies." —Vulture One day, the mother was a mother, but then one night, she was quite suddenly something else... An ambitious mother puts her art career on hold to stay at home with her newborn son, but the experience does not match her imagination. Two years later, she steps into the bathroom for a break from her toddler's deman... continue
9.
Country: North America / Mexico
Mexico
Description:
Deserted villages of rural Mexico, where images and memories of the past linger like unquiet ghosts, haunted the imaginations of the author. In one such village of the mind, Comala, he set his classic novel Pedro Páramo, a dream-like tale that intertwines a man's quest to find his lost father and reclaim his patrimony with the father's obsessive love for a woman who will not be possessed, Susana San Juan.
10.
Pig's Foot by Carlos Acosta EN
Country: North America / 
Cuba
Cuba
Description:
Oscar Mandinga, great-grandchild of the founders of a small hamlet deep in the Cuban hinterland, is a sardonic teller of tales – some taller than others. But one day Oscar wakes to find himself utterly alone, the sole descendant of his family line. He is not sure what to do or where to go, but in the midst of this uncertainty, he holds fast to what his grandfather always told him: 'No man knows who he is until he knows his past.' So Oscar sets out to find his ancestral village and the meaning of the magical pig's-foot amulet he has inherited.